- Døden har fått nytt liv i Aftenposten

Sun Feb 14 2021 09:05:19 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Vil at mindre av tomtene skal brukes til hus

Sun Feb 14 2021 09:00:19 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Flere skoler har advart: Dette trenger foreldre å vite om Omegle.

Sun Feb 14 2021 09:00:12 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- To stjerner møtes foran kamera i rørende divaportrett

Sun Feb 14 2021 09:00:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Solskjær med nådeløs beskjed: – Vil du være den store fisken, er det kanskje på tide å dra

Sun Feb 14 2021 08:54:19 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- 156 nye koronasmittede

Sun Feb 14 2021 08:50:55 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Stor vannlekkasje i Oslo sentrum. Ber folk være varsomme.

Sun Feb 14 2021 08:10:28 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Slik reagerte USA på frifinnelsen av Trump: «Ryktet ødelagt for alltid»

Sun Feb 14 2021 08:05:47 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Kritisk: – Jeg ser at Trøndelag har havnet veldig bakpå

Sun Feb 14 2021 08:00:14 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Løper 70 kilometer i uken i boden. Dette bør du tenke på hvis du skal kjøpe tredemølle.

Sun Feb 14 2021 08:00:07 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Delphiによって構築されたデジタルオーディオビジュアルワークステーション「Usine」

Sun Feb 14 2021 08:00:03 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Usineは、ライブ、スタジオ、設備で利用するための究極のデジタルワークステーションで、Delphiによって開発されています。開発者は次のように解説しています。

「このソフトウェアは、VST/AUをホストし、オーディオ、MIDI、ビデオ、DMX、OSCの処理とルーティング、パーソナライズ化された仮想制御インターフェイスの設計が可能です。ソフトウェアはモジュラー環境なので、すぐに使えるサンプルが用意されているものの、最終的には独自のライブセットを作成し、ニーズにぴったりと合致するようにカスタマイズすることです。Usineは、プロ向けのオーディオ、ビデオ、およびライトモジュラーソフトウェアとしては当初ぴったり合致することはないと思いますが、そうしたニーズに結局合致してくる最も強力なソフトウェアの1つであることが分かるはずです。」

Webサイト

Usine

Twitter

Sensomusicusine

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- «Ingen lett avgjørelse å avlyse skriftlig eksamen»

Sun Feb 14 2021 08:00:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Delphiによって構築されたネイティブWindowsテキストエディタ「GBEPad」

Sun Feb 14 2021 07:30:01 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

GBEPadは、Windows向けのシンプル、高速、完全なフリーテキストファイルエディタで、Delphiによって開発されています。開発者は次のように解説しています。

「その軽快さ、効率性、可能性は、開発者だけでなく、テキストファイルを日々扱うすべてのユーザーにとって理想的なツールであると言えます。ユーザーの好みに対応するべく、多くの設定オプションを用意しています。GBEPadは、NotePad++のような多くの機能(FTPクライアント、マルチカーソル、Emmetサポート、大規模検索オプション、巨大なファイルのオープン、ファイル比較など)を備えたフリーテキストエディターです。リリース当初(2004年)、GBEPadはDelphi 7によって構築されていましたが、現在はDelphi 10.4 Sydneyによって作成されています。GBEPadは、VCLアプリケーションです。(コンパイラ、他のツールなど)外部ツールを構成することも可能。デフォルトでは、GBEPadには主要なプログラミング言語用の35の構文強調表示機能が付属しています。これらの強調表示は必要に応じて調整できますが、新しい構文強調表示定義を作成することもできます。拡張機能ページには、個別にダウンロードできる他の構文強調表示定義が用意されています。」

Webサイト

GBEPad

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- Delphiによって構築された「BioniX」は著名な壁紙スイッチャーアプリケーション

Sun Feb 14 2021 07:00:03 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

BioniXは、デスクトップを完全にコントロールできる世界的に有名な壁紙スイッチャー/チェンジャーで、Delphiによって構築されています。開発者は次のように解説しています。

「BioniXは、世界中の何百万ものユーザーに選ばれており、著名な評論家や批評家からも複数の賞を受賞しています。BioniXは、他のバックグラウンドスイッチャーにはない独自の機能を提供しています。例えば、『フォルダロック』を使えば、特定のフォルダを監視して、そのフォルダに壁紙が追加されると自動的にプレイリストを更新することができます。『昼/夜』切り替え機能もクールな機能です。この機能を使えば、現在の時間によって特定の壁紙をデスクトップに表示させることができます(例えば、朝に日の出の壁紙を表示し、夕方に日没の壁紙を掘用事するなど、どの壁紙をどの時間に表示するかを選択できます)。BioniXの多彩な機能の一端を以下のリストでご確認ください。」

主な機能:

アニメーションデスクトップ壁紙(ビデオ / GIF)
昼/夜切り替え壁紙
自動背景色検出
デスクトップカレンダー
特殊効果(タイル、ミラー、回転など)
カラーエンハンスメント
フリップ壁紙
マルチモニターサポート
「パニック!」ボタン
時計壁紙
タイマー壁紙チェンジャー
3Dアニメーション壁紙(マトリックス)
ライブWebカメラの壁紙
フォトパイル(コラージュ)

Webサイト

BioniX

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- Vant Bookerprisen. Men oversettelsen minner om en Wam & Vennerød-film.

Sun Feb 14 2021 07:00:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Detect The Windows WiFi Networks In Your Delphi App With This Powerful Component Suite

Sun Feb 14 2021 06:54:01 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Nowadays accessing Wi-Fi networks information becomes common in our Desktop, Web, Mobile and IOT applications. Detecting the available or cached Wi-Fi networks information is no more a tough task from your code. MiTec’s System Information Management Suite’s component helps to detect easily the Wi-Fi networks and we will learn how to use TMiTeC_WIFI component in the blog post.

Platforms: Windows.

Installation Steps:  

You can easily install this Component Suite from GetIt Package Manager. The steps are as follows.

  1. Navigate In RAD Studio IDE->Tools->GetIt Package Manager->select Components in Categories->Components->Trail -MiTec system Information Component Suite 14.3 and click Install Button.
  2. Read the license and Click Agree All. An Information dialog saying ‘Requires a restart of RAD studio at the end of the process. Do you want to proceed? click yes and continue.
  3. It will download the plugin and installs it. Once installed Click Restart now.

How to run the Demo app: 

Components used in MSIC SC Demo App:

Implementation Details:

procedure TwndMain.RefreshData;
var
  i: Integer;
  n: TListItem;
  s: string;
begin
  WIFI.RefreshData;
  lv.Items.BeginUpdate;
  try
    lv.Items.Clear;
    for i:=0 to lv.Items.Count-1 do
      lv.Items[i].SubItems[0]:='0%';
    for i:=0 to WIFI.NetworkCount-1 do begin
      s:=WIFI.Networks[i].SSID;
      if (s='') then
        s:=WIFI.Networks[i].Profile;
      n:=lv.FindData(0,Pointer(WIFI.Networks[i].ID),True,True);
      if not Assigned(n) then begin
        n:=lv.Items.Add;
        n.Caption:=s;
        n.SubItems.Add(Format('%d%%',[WIFI.Networks[i].SignalQuality]));
        n.SubItems.Add(AuthToStr(WIFI.Networks[i].AuthAlgorithm));
        n.SubItems.Add(CipherToStr(WIFI.Networks[i].CipherAlgorithm));
        n.SubItems.Add(PHYToStr(WIFI.Networks[i].PHYType));
        n.SubItems.Add(BSSToStr(WIFI.Networks[i].BSSType));
        n.SubItems.Add(WIFI.Networks[i].MACAddress);
        n.SubItems.Add(Format('%d dBm',[WIFI.Networks[i].RSSI]));
        n.SubItems.Add(Format('%1.3f GHz',[WIFI.Networks[i].ChannelFreq/1000000]));
        n.SubItems.Add(Format('%d',[GetChannelNumber(WIFI.Networks[i].ChannelFreq)]));
        n.SubItems.Add(Format('%d Mbps',[WIFI.Networks[i].MaxSpeed]));
        n.SubItems.Add(WIFI.Networks[i].Intf.Name);
        n.Data:=Pointer(WIFI.Networks[i].ID);
      end else begin
        n.SubItems[0]:=Format('%d%%',[WIFI.Networks[i].SignalQuality]);
        n.SubItems[5]:=WIFI.Networks[i].MACAddress;
        n.SubItems[6]:=Format('%d dBm',[WIFI.Networks[i].RSSI]);
        n.SubItems[7]:=Format('%1.3f GHz',[WIFI.Networks[i].ChannelFreq/1000000]);
        n.SubItems[8]:=Format('%d',[GetChannelNumber(WIFI.Networks[i].ChannelFreq)]);
        n.SubItems[9]:=Format('%d Mbps',[WIFI.Networks[i].MaxSpeed]);
      end;
      n.ImageIndex:=Integer(WIFI.Networks[i].SecurityEnabled);
      if WIFI.Networks[i].Connected then
        n.ImageIndex:=n.ImageIndex+2;
    end;
  finally
    lv.Items.EndUpdate;
  end;
end;
wifi-6655772
MiTeC WiFi Demo

It’s that simple to enumerate list of Wi-Fi networks and its properties available in your machine from your Delphi application. Use this MiTeC component suite and get the job done quickly.

Head over and check out the full MiTec System Information Management Suite for Access System Information for Windows in Delphi Applications



- Denne metalvokalisten kan vinne VM i alpint i dag

Sun Feb 14 2021 06:30:14 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Delphiによって構築された強力なガスタービン統合設計システム

Sun Feb 14 2021 06:30:03 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

MDIDS-GTは、ガスタービン設計のための学際的統合デザインシステムで、Delphiによって開発されています。開発者は次のように解説しています。

「MDIDS-GTは、ガスタービンエンジンの設計/分析のための、無料で利用できる唯一の専門エンジニアリングソフトウェアです。MDIDS-GTが、他のガスタービンソフトウェアと大きく異なる点は何か?それは、さまざまな独自分野を1つの機能と広範な環境において利用できるように、結合、連携、標準化している点です。MDIDS-GTは、多様な分野とそれぞれの分野に関連したさまざまなガスタービン設計作業に利用できる柔軟性を備えた唯一のソフトウェアであり、各分野ごとにさまざまなツールを提供する他のソフトウェアと比較して、はるかに効率的です。これは、過去70年間にわたってガスタービン業界で開発に使用されてきたさまざまな1D/2D哲学と方法論の活用を、単一のユーザーフレンドリーで多用途かつ高機能なアプリケーション環境に組み入れてきた成果です。」

Webサイト

MDIDS-GT

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- Siktet for drapsforsøk på Bjølsen

Sun Feb 14 2021 06:23:49 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- «De var nærmere å få Trump dømt enn man skulle trodd»

Sun Feb 14 2021 06:09:49 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Bidens første kommentar: - En påminnelse om at demokratiet er skjørt

Sun Feb 14 2021 06:06:14 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Bahrain: Ti år med overgrep som er blitt oversett av Vesten

Sun Feb 14 2021 06:00:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Trusselen fra høyreekstreme miljøer øker. Likevel sitter vi med hendene i fanget.

Sun Feb 14 2021 06:00:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Delphiによって構築された地理空間データアプリケーション「TatukGIS」はオールラウンド

Sun Feb 14 2021 06:00:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

TatukGIS Editorは、地理空間データの作成、編集、マッピング、分析のためのプロフェッショナルなWindows向け汎用GISアプリケーションで、Delphiによって構築されています。開発者は次のように説明しています。

「このエディターは、多くのGISユーザーが必要とするツール機能を提供します。マルチレイヤーマッププロジェクト、ほとんどの地理空間業界標準のデータ形式とデータベースエンジンとの互換性、高度なレンダリング、オンザフライレイヤー再投影が可能な5,000以上の座標系、3Dビジュアライゼーション、GPSトラッキングなどの機能を利用できます。高度な地理空間分析と操作には、データ分類手法、レイヤー統計、輪郭、傾斜分析、可視域とAGLの可視性分析、地形プロファイル、ベクトル→グリッド内挿アルゴリズム、ポイントクラウド→グリッド変換、操作パイプライニング、ラスターレイヤー算術演算、高度なフィルター、トポロジ操作、ジオコーディングが含まれます。プラグインを作成するための強力な組み込みスクリプトエンジン(PascalおよびBasicを利用可能)では、カスタムGIS開発向けに設計された数百のクラスと数千のドキュメント化されたメソッド/プロパティを、包括的なAPIによって利用できます。TatukGIS Editorは2005年にファーストバージョンがリリースされ、以降継続的にアップデートが提供されています(TatukGIS Editorも、Delphiによって構築された包括的なGIS SDK「TatukGIS Developer Kernel」を使ってコンパイルされています)。」

Webサイト

TatukGIS Editor

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- Delphiによって構築された「Falcon 9」ロケットシミュレーターはスペクタクル

Sun Feb 14 2021 05:30:02 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Falcon 9 – First Stage Simulatorは、エンジニアリング方程式を使用し、Falcon 9(SpaceX)ロケット 第1ステージの軌道の制御に加え、動作、進行力、パフォーマンスをシミュレートします。このソフトウェアは、Delphiによって構築されています。開発者は次のように解説しています。

「構造情報、エンジンの性能特性、スロットル制御曲線、機体の傾きなどをロードするいくつものパネルがあります。メインパネルには、シミュレーションの進行状況がリアルタイム表示されます。これは、OpenGLウィンドウの3Dモデル表示です。シミュレーションの最初の段階では、打ち上げ時の実際のビデオと同期し、シミュレーションの精度を評価するために各瞬間の速度と高度を比較できるようにしています。そしてシミュレーションが完了したら、すべての情報をExcelファイルにダウンロードして評価用のグラフを作成できます。アプリケーションのすべてのパラメーター(構造、エンジン、制御情報)は完全にカスタマイズ可能なので、必要なすべてのミッションを構成してシミュレーションでき、その結果を実際のビデオとリアルタイムで比較できます。アプリケーションはまだ開発中であり、シミュレーターでは、打ち上げ段階から、第2ステージの分離までシミュレートできるようになります。このアプリケーションは、Delphi Community Edition 10.3を使用して作成されました。」

Webサイト

Falcon 9 – First Stage Simulator

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- Delphiによって構築された牧場モバイルゲーム「Idle Western」

Sun Feb 14 2021 05:00:02 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Idle Westernは、西部劇スタイルのミニチュア牧場モバイルゲームであり、Delphiによって構築されています。開発者は次のように語っています。

「このゲームはDelphi 10.4.1+iOS SDK 14.3で作成していますが、まだ開発中であり、現在ベータバージョンを公開しています。そして、ユーザーからのフィードバックやバグ情報の収集に努めているところです。現時点で、さまざまなデバイスタイプ/iOSバージョンを利用している5万7千人のユニークユーザーを獲得しています。これは、Delphiのクロスプラットフォームの安定性を示す重要なデータでしょう。技術情報としては、ゲームエンジンは不使用。ピュアFMX 2Dスプライトベースのゲームとして成り立っています。レンダリングスプライトにはBlenderを使用し、これらのスプライトの実行にはTBitmapAnimationを使用しています。UIアイテムには、OrangeUIコンポーネントを使用。JVESuiteコンポーネントによって、Admobのマネタイズが実現されています。」

すばらしいゲームです!

Apple App Store

Idle Western

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- Iversen varsler lang pause etter VM: – Hadde vært verdifullt å leve et normalt liv

Sun Feb 14 2021 04:28:39 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- C++Builderによって構築されたリバースエンジニアリング ソフトウェアスイート「Relyze Desktop」

Sun Feb 14 2021 04:00:03 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Relyze Desktopを用いれば、x86、x64、ARM32、ARM64ソフトウェアのリバースエンジニアリング、逆コンパイル、差分解析によって、ネイティブコードソフトウェアの動作の理解/可視化が可能です。C++Builderによって開発することで、VCL(Visual Component Library)を活用した、フラットなUIデザインコンセプトに基づいた洗練されたモダンインターフェイスを実現。ソフトウェアの分析にフォーカスできます。Relyze Desktop Standardは、非営利目的であれば無料で利用できます。

ダウンロード

https://www.relyze.com/download.html

Webサイト

Relyze Desktop

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- Dagens quiz søndag 14. februar

Sun Feb 14 2021 04:00:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Python For Delphi VCL vs Tkinter

Sun Feb 14 2021 03:33:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Powered By Delphi:「AIMP」- 実績あるオーディオプレーヤー/オーガナイザー

Sun Feb 14 2021 03:30:02 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

AIMPは強力なオーディオプレーヤー/オーガナイザーで、オーディオ用のいくつかのツール(タグエディター、オーディオコンバーター)も含まれています。このソフトウェアは、Delphiを用いて開発されました。開発者は、このソフトウェアが提供する機能のいくつかを紹介しています。

Webサイト

AIMP

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- Delphiによって構築された楽しい3D麻雀ゲーム

Sun Feb 14 2021 03:00:01 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

オープンソースの3D麻雀ゲームは、Delphiによって構築されています。開発者は次のように解説しています。「ある人が『Mahjong 3D』でトランスレーション機能をサポートし、独自のロジックや画像を作成して置き換えることが可能になりました。これらはすべて、単純なテキストエディタやグラフィックエディタで作成できます。ゲーム『Kryształowe kule(Crystal balls)』のポイントは、落下するボールをバスケットでキャッチすることで獲得できます。それは非常に簡単なリラックスゲームです。ボールには、バスケットのサイズやボールの速度を変えるといったボーナスポイントや罰則ポイントが付与されます。プレイヤーはボーナスや罰則を無効にしたり、罰則のみを無効にするといった設定が可能です。」

開発者によれば、現在、別のゲームを制作中とのことです。「ゲーム『Statki(Ships)』は、まだ残念ながら制作中なのですが、メインの機能は完成しています。このゲームは多層戦艦シューターであり、テキストエディタでマップや船のモデルを変更したり新たに作成することができます。」

Webサイト

Mahjong 3D z Eris Kallisti Dyskordia

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- Dortmund i oppløsning: – Ville vært bekymret

Sun Feb 14 2021 02:01:10 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Delphiを活用して素晴らしいオンライン コンドミニアム管理システムを構築

Sun Feb 14 2021 02:00:03 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

コンドミニアムオーナーは、SGC Onlineにアクセスして、それぞれのコンドミニアムに関する情報を取得することができます。 このアプリは、Delphiを使用して作成されました。開発者は次のように解説しています。

「オンラインコンドミニアム管理システムは、オーナーと管理者、利用者を密にするツールです。オンラインサービスは、説明責任のクオリティ、利便性、スピード、透明性を高め、全員の生活を楽にします。これらは、インターネットアクセス環境のあるコンドミニアムであれば、どこからでも(自宅、職場、公共のインターネットアクセス環境、旅行中でも)利用できます。なお、一部のサービスにはプリンターが必要になります。このアプリを用いれば、コンドミニアムのすべての情報にアクセスできるのです。」

主な機能:

Webサイト

SGC Online

Google Play

SGC Online

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- 優れた教育用プログラミングツールの開発でDelphiの柔軟性を証明

Sun Feb 14 2021 01:00:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

devFlowcharterは、Delphiによって開発された軽量なフリーウェアアプリケーションです。それは、構造化プログラミングのクラスで利用できる簡単な教育ツールです。devFlowcharterでは、ユーザーフレンドリーで強力な描画エンジンを用いてフローチャートを作成し、コードを生成、外部のコンパイラを使ってコンパイルを実行し、最終的にこれを実行することができます。

現在、Pascal、C、TI-BASIC、Java、Pythonをサポートしています。devFlowcharterでの言語サポートは、XMLテンプレートによって行われているため、簡単に他の言語のサポートを追加したり、独自に作成することもできます。

Webサイト

devFlowcharter

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- Delphiによって構築された「CaseTalk Modeler」は情報収集に役立つファクト指向モデラー

Sun Feb 14 2021 00:30:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

CaseTalk Modelerは、開発者向け製品ラインの中心に位置づけられるソフトウェアで、Delphiによって構築されています。CaseTalk Modelerを用いれば、ファクト指向モデリング(Fact-Oriented Modeling)と呼ばれる手法により、ドメインエキスパートのナレッジを正確にキャプチャすることができます。これは、一切の技術バイアスを排除した概念的な手法で、自然言語の形式でナレッジをキャプチャします。

この手法には技術的なバイアスはありませんが、CaseTalk Modelerでは、あらゆる段階で自然言語から技術的な成果物を生成し、ユーザーが口頭で検証することができます。これにより、I(Information)とT (Technology)の統合が実現できます。ビジネスサイドの関係者は、IT用語を強いられるという犠牲を払うことなく、情報モデルの指定や検証が可能になりました。

CaseTalkは、FCO-IM(Fully Communication Oriented Information Modeling)と呼ばれるエレガントで実践的な理論に基づいて構築されています。FCO-IMは、著名なメソッドであるNIAMの後継です。元々、NIAMはデータベースモデリングの新しい方法を提示していましたが、最終的に一般的な情報モデリングの言語手法として進化してきました。詳細は、開発者のWebサイトにある、さまざまな記事リストをご覧ください。

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- Itaocara: COVID 19 Business Status App Demonstrates Flexibility Of Delphi

Sat Feb 13 2021 23:34:02 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Itaocara is an app built in Delphi which shows companies in Itaocara RJ, Brazil opened or closed status because of COVID 19 and it is built with Delphi. It lists companies in the city of Itaocara RJ, Brazil, affected by decree that determined their closure. With the app the user gets in direct contact with the company by phone or whatsapp and can place his order and receive it by delivery. It is built in Delphi FireMonkey and is available on Google Play.

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- Remarkable Multichannel Full Back Office System Manager Channergy Is Powered By Delphi

Sat Feb 13 2021 23:11:24 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Since 1995 – Channergy is a multi channel and omni channel manager, a Point of Sale (POS) and a full back office system that does more than talk to your web store and it is developed in Delphi. According to the developer, “with Channergy, you can process orders and manage inventory for all your channels and retail stores, interact with customers based on their buying habits, ship orders, and much more.

What makes Channergy different? It is a complete back office system. Use Channergy to update inventory in multiple locations, manage customers, send emails, create purchase orders, process returns, enter phone orders, track ads and much, much more. There are hundreds of features in the back office system alone that you won’t find in online solutions or simple channel managers – features you need to run your mail order business.

Channergy works with dozens of third party packages so you do not have to give up your favorite software. Ship with UPS Worldship, Fedex Manager, Endicia and more. Channergy exports to Quickbooks and other accounting packages – everything your bookkeeper and CPA needs is included. Process credit cards directly from Channergy with your choice of over one hundred credit card providers. Verify addresses with NCOA services like AccuZip and Mailers +4. Send and receive data from drop shippers, vendors, wholesalers and retailers. This list is as long as there are software systems.”

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- KronosNET Built In Delphi Is A Powerful Platform For Monitoring Station Management

Sat Feb 13 2021 23:07:34 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

The KronosNET system integrates several hundred devices from different manufacturers to ensuring their operation in a common environment and it is built in Delphi. According to the developer, “in addition to receiving, analyzing, visualizing and archiving incoming events from intrusion and fire prevention systems, access control, GPS location, CCTV and industrial automation (analog measurements), the system also supports administrative activities related to the service and inventory of devices, billing, setting work schedules for security agencies and customer care and contract management. The latest development direction of the KronosNET platform is the use of AI and Big Data analyzes. This product is used around the world in several hundred security agencies for monitoring from between several and thousands of accounts simultaneously. The KronosNET system is used not only in security agencies, but also in banks, in critical infrastructure (power plants, military, airports, embassies) and corporations.”

The developer goes on to say that, “The three-layer architecture, which is standard for our solutions, encrypted communication, secure buffers stored in permanent memory, and transmission of differentiation between modules, are only some of the mechanisms that render the KronosNET system safe and efficient even for a large number of accounts under surveillance. The communication mechanism that is used allows for significant system dispersal even via poor communication channels, which ensures a high level of comfort. The architecture model employed also allows the system to be easily expanded to include additional functionality without affecting existing mechanisms, while making it possible for information to be exchanged with external applications. The system communicates with the user via all modern communication channels including: PC and SmartPhone applications, websites, text messages or e-mails, and also supports digital phone network.”

Some statistics provided by the developer about KronosNET are:

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- Basket Scouting: An Impressive Basketball Software Showcases Flexibility Of Delphi

Sat Feb 13 2021 23:00:03 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Basket Scouting is the innovative statistical survey software directly on the playing field, complete with support for interactive shooting maps and it is developer in Delphi. According to the developer, “you can say goodbye to pen and paper and check all the events of the game on your computer and produce a large series of prints. As a specific software for basketball teams, it was designed to manage game statistic in a simple way. The software operates in real time and has the ability to record all the sensitive events. At the end of each game, you may print a summary or simply publish it on your website.” The light and dark themes provided by Delphi really look nice on this software.

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- Impressive SVG Windows Shell Extension Tools Are Made With Delphi

Sat Feb 13 2021 22:57:24 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

SVGShellExtensions adds SVG viewing and support to Windows Explorer and it is built with Delphi. According to the developer, “SVGShellExtensions is a collection of extensions tools for SVG files, integrated into Microsoft Windows Explorer (Vista, 7, 8 and 10):

Remarkable features of the SVGShellExtensions include having a light and dark theme according to users’ preferences. SCGSHellsExtensions also supports Windows Vista 7, 8, and 10 (Only for 64 bits). If you have a Delphi 10.4 Sydney, you can manually build this project.” This is a powerful add on for Windows Explorer and really brings SVG support in Windows to life.

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- Delphi Displays Flexibility With Exciting DumbCy Charades App For Android

Sat Feb 13 2021 22:41:22 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

“DumbCy” is a charades game played with movie names and it is developed in Delphi for Android. According to the developer, “A whole fresh way of playing dumb charades with your friends! I grew up playing this game with my family and friends. And, it still is one of the games we play when friends and family gathers. I am sure many of you can relate to this and have a similar experience. It was my long time desire to write an app for “Dumb Charades”. Here I am, presenting you the very first version of my effort. Enjoy DumbCy!” It is always great to see games built in Delphi because it shows how FireMonkey can really shine across a broad range of software types.

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- Human Capital: Doing away with the NDA

Sat Feb 13 2021 22:40:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

You’ve landed on Human Capital, a weekly newsletter detailing the latest in diversity, equity, inclusion and labor. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every Friday at 1 p.m. PT.

There’s some new legislation that hopes to prevent the use of non-disclosure agreements in workplace situations involving all forms of discrimination and harassment. That would be huge for the tech industry, where NDAs have become commonplace in severance agreements.

Meanwhile, All Raise, Coursera and Niantic announced some new initiatives designed to increase diversity in tech.

I’ve also included an early look of a story I’m working on about the pipeline myth. Lots more to discuss so let’s get to it.

New legislation seeks to get rid of NDAs in cases of harassment or discrimination

Ifeoma Ozoma, a former Pinterest employee who alleged racial and gender discrimination at the company, is co-leading new legislation with California State Senator Connie Leyva and others to empower those who experience workplace discrimination and/or harassment. The Silenced No More Act (SB 331) would prevent the use of non-disclosure agreements in workplace situations involving all forms of discrimination and harassment.

“It was a legal gamble,” Ozoma told TechCrunch about coming forward with claims of both racial and gender discrimination, despite having signed an NDA. Pinterest could’ve decided to sue both Ozoma and Banks, Ozoma said, but that would’ve required the company to admit wrongdoing.

Meredith Whittaker, faculty director at AI Now and Google walkout co-organizer on SB 331

I also caught up with Whittaker, who said this type of legislation is absolutely necessary:

From a structural perspective, it’s really evident we’re not going to change toxic, discriminatory tech environments without naming the problems. We have decades of failed DEI PR, decades of people blaming the pipeline and decades of brilliant people like Ifeoma, Aerica and Timnit being harassed and pushed out of these environments. And oftentimes, people aren’t able to speak about their experiences so that the deep toxicity of these environments — the way it’s built into the structural operating procedures of these companies and workplaces — doesn’t get aired.

Musings on the pipeline problem

My conversation with Whittaker led to me being introduced to Dr. Joy Lisi Rankin, a research lead for gender, race and power in artificial intelligence at the AI Now Institute. She’s actively researching the history of the pipeline problem and took some time to chat with me about it. I’m not done with the story yet, but here’s a little teaser:

The very high-level view is, people have been talking about a pipeline problem in some form since the seventies,” Rankin told me. “And before that, often, it was like a quote, manpower problem, by focusing on who has PhDs or master’s degrees in a field or who has elite jobs in a field. But that focus is always on individuals. It’s on tracking people, not institutions and not structures. So this is why I think it continues to be a convenient excuse for a host of sins, because talking about a pipeline makes it seem as if all things are equal in the United States, and we just have to find a way to keep people in. But the truth is, when we think about a STEM pipeline, we don’t talk about the fact that education in the United States is by no means equal from birth onwards.

Ex-Salesforce manager alleges microaggressions and inequity

Cynthia Perry, a former design research senior manager at Salesforce who left earlier this month, posted her resignation letter on LinkedIn that detailed her negative treatment at the company. In it, Perry, a Black woman, alleges she experienced “countless microaggressions and inequity” during her time there.

Ultimately, Perry said she left her job because she had been “Gaslit, manipulated, bullied, neglected, and mostly unsupported” by folks she chose not to name.

Salesforce provided the following statement to TechCrunch:

For privacy reasons, we can’t comment on individual employee matters but Equality is one of our highest values and we have been dedicated to its advancement both inside and outside of our company since we were founded almost 22 years ago.

All Raise aims to increase diversity at the board level

Despite recent efforts to improve diversity at the board level, the number of Black, brown and women board members is still low. All Raise is looking to fix that with the recent launch of Board Xcelerate. Already, its 90-day search process has resulted in the placement of five independent board members.

Here’s the gist of the program:

We start by talking with investors, talent partners, and CEOs who want to fill their open independent board seats. Then, we kick off a fast, 90-day closed search process through a pool of talent sourced from our own network and an external advisory committee, supported and executed by a retained executive search firm. Finally, we connect the companies and candidates to interview and determine the best fit.

Coursera makes some Black History Month commitments 

Ed tech company Coursera partnered with Howard University, a historically Black university, to beef up its social justice content on the online platform. Coursera also partnered with Facebook to provide scholarships to Black folks who would like to learn more about social media marketing. Lastly, Coursera partnered with non-profit Black Girls Code to offer up to 2,000 young Black girls free access to the Coursera catalog.

Niantic launches Black Developers Initiative

Niantic, the augmented reality company behind Pokemon Go, launched a new initiative to fund new projects from Black game developers. The Black Developers Initiative aims to not only fund those projects, but also offer resources and mentorship to Black game and AR developers.

Alphabet Workers Union has its first win

Last week, AWU filed a complaint with the NLRB alleging Google contract workers were silenced about pay and that the company fired a worker for speaking out about it. Now, the worker in question, Shannon Wait, is back at work. 

“Shannon’s back at work b/c she had a union to turn to when she was illegally suspended,” AWU said in a tweet. “She came to us, we raised hell, & a week later, she’s back.”

Amazon warehouse worker union vote begins 

Earlier this week, Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama began voting to decide whether or not they will unionize with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The beginning of the vote came shortly after the National Labor Relations Board rejected Amazon’s attempt to delay the vote.

By unionizing, Amazon workers hope to gain the right to collectively bargain over their working conditions, like safety standards, pay, breaks and other issues. Unionizing would also enable workers to potentially become “just cause” employees versus at-will, depending on how the negotiations go.

Mail-in voting ends March 29, with the NLRB set to begin counting ballots the following day on a virtual platform.

The latest in Prop 22 battles

Despite the CA Supreme Court rejecting to hear the lawsuit challenging Prop 22’s constitutionality, the Service Employees International Union filed a similar suit in a lower court, the Alameda County Superior Court.

Meanwhile, the CA Supreme Court rejected Uber and Lyft’s request for it to review a lower court’s decision about whether they misclassified their drivers as independent contractors. The decision in question stated that drivers should be classified as employees, but then Prop 22 passed and made it so, moving forward, Uber and Lyft are legally able to classify their drivers as independent contractors.

TechCrunch Sessions: Justice agenda is out!

We released the agenda for the upcoming Justice event on March 3. We’re pumped to be able to host Backstage Capital founder and Managing Partner Arlan Hamilton, Gig Workers Collective’s Vanessa Bain, Alphabet Workers Union Executive Chair Parul Koul, Color of Change President Rashad Robinson, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and others.

Tickets are just $5. 



- Powered By Delphi: Wall-YE Is A Remarkable Agricultural Software Suite

Sat Feb 13 2021 22:38:09 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Wall-YE utilizes a suite of software apps built in Delphi and C++ for agricultural automation through robotics. According to the developer, “Delphi does weed control: agricultural and wine-growing robots are revolutionizing our fields. An alternative and modern solution for farmers and winegrowers Wall-YE offers a new solution to farmers and winegrowers: the Myce robot. Available in several versions (inter-row, straddle and grape harvester and market gardener), it is already revolutionizing the daily life of these professionals. The advantages: being able to stop using chemical treatment and weeding products, reducing the costs of maneuver and limit the arduous and physical aspects of the job. Equipped with a powerful mapping software, the robot traverses the land to delimit the plots, analyze the feet of vineyard, map the future vegetables to be harvested, detect and pull out weeds, etc. It is thus placed as world leader in wine and agricultural robotics. All software and applications are developed in Delphi and C ++ and thanks to the efficiency of the FireMonkey framework, they are also cross-platform.”

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- Fun maXbox Is An All-In-One Script Engine Application: Powered By Delphi

Sat Feb 13 2021 22:32:46 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

maXbox is an open source script studio with an Object Pascal scripting language. According to the developer, “it is an open-source script tool engine, compiler, and source library, all in one. Use it to design and code your scripts! Pure Code for Object Pascal Scripting. The guiding principles are simplicity and the reduction of complexity to the max. The app is self-containment “out of the box” with no need for installation or registration.”

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- Fun Creature Management Game For Windows And Android Built In Delphi

Sat Feb 13 2021 22:26:20 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

creatureapp5Creature, by Kenthor Games, is a creature management application halfway between Pokémon and Tamagotchi with 27 creatures included in 3 evolution trees (Fire, Plant, Water). The app is built in Delphi and available for Windows and Android. There are some fun looking graphics here and the app is great to see. The game is not available from Google Play yet looks like but Android does support side loading.

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- Delphi Builds Ultimate GIS Field Survey Application Mobile Matilda

Sat Feb 13 2021 22:18:08 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

GIS Field Survey Application for iPad Built in Delphi-FMX. According to the developer, “Mobile Matilda is a mobile GIS application designed for Apple iPad tablet computers. The application operates in a local (off-line) environment or  with on-line data streaming. Off-line operation is possible by reading GIS map layers and data from the iPad memory. Even huge GIS datasets can be  efficiently stored to the iOS device memory as SQLite database layers. Relevant records are accessed simply by tapping and selecting on the tablet computer. Users can update records (e.g, map location of assets, attribute information, photo angle) in the field for later synchronization to the desktop or server via a secure WiFi or GSM connection. The iPad’s GPS position information is used to re-center the map (or aerial photography layer) to the user’s current position. Attaching photos to survey records is possible using the iPad’s built-in camera or a linked 360-degree panoramic camera. Mobile Matilda is used by municipal governments in Japan to conduct field surveys of physical assets. The application is developed in Delphi-FMX from the TatukGIS Developer Kernel edition for Delphi-VCL/FMX (see www.tatukgis.com).”

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- Docto Is An Incredible Command Line Utility Converter Developed In Delphi

Sat Feb 13 2021 22:15:36 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Docto is a ‘command line only’ application that interacts with Word via COM to open and resave files in alternative formats. According to the developer, “most people who use it convert from Word Documents to PDF but Docto can convert from Text Files, HTML Files, RTF Files into Word Documents, HTML Files, XPS Files etc using Office Applications as the conversion engine. Docto was originally written using Delphi 7 and now compiles without any issues on Delphi 10.3 It takes advantage of Delphi’s really good COM support to interact with Word and other Microsoft Office application for document conversion. Originally written for an internal requirement to have a simple way to convert Recipe Documents into PDFs, it was an obvious candidate, once tidied up, to provide as open source on Github. Delphi was the obvious programming language to develop this is as it has very comprehensive and straightforward COM support.”

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- Han syntes stemmen var fantastisk. Så trengte han seg gjennom mengden for å se hvem som sto bak mikrofonen.

Sat Feb 13 2021 21:48:04 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Først frikjente han Trump, så hudflettet han ham. Her er historien om strategen Mitch McConnell.

Sat Feb 13 2021 21:37:56 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- There is infinite money for stock-trading startups

Sat Feb 13 2021 21:00:23 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Welcome back to The TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter. It’s broadly based on the daily column that appears on Extra Crunch, but free, and made for your weekend reading. Want it in your inbox every Saturday morning? Sign up here

Ready? Let’s talk money, startups and spicy IPO rumors.

Earlier this week TechCrunch broke the news that Public, a consumer stock trading service, was in the process of raising more money. Business Insider quickly filled in details surrounding the round, that it could be around $200 million at a valuation of $1.2 billion. Tiger could lead.

Public wants to be the anti-Robinhood. With a focus on social, and a recent move away from generating payment for order flow (PFOF) revenues that have driven Robinhood’s business model, and attracted criticism, Public has laid its bets. And investors, in the wake of its rival’s troubles, are ready to make it a unicorn.

Of course, the Public round comes on the heels of Robinhood’s epic $3.4 billion raise, a deal that was shocking for both its scale and speed. The trading service’s investors came in force to ensure it had the capital it needed to continue supporting consumer trades. Thanks to Robinhood’s strong Q4 2020 results, and implied growth in Q1 2021, the boosted investment made sense.

As does the Public money, provided that 1) The company is seeing lots of user growth, and 2) That it figures out its forever business model in time. We cannot comment on the second, but we can say a bit about the first point.

Thanks not to Public, really, but M1 Finance, a Midwest-based consumer fintech that has a stock-buying function amongst its other services (more on it here). It told TechCrunch that it saw a quadrupling of signups in January as compared to December. And in the last two weeks, it saw six times as many signups as the preceding two weeks.

Given that M1 doesn’t allow for trading — something that its team repeatedly stressed in notes to TechCrunch — we can’t draw a perfect line between M1 and Public and Robinhood, but we can infer that there is huge consumer interest in investing of late. Which helps explain why Public, which is hunting up a way to generate long-term incomes, can raise another round just months after it closed a different investment.

Our notes last year on how savings and investing were the new thing last year are accidentally becoming even more true than we expected.

Market Notes

As the week came to a close, Coupang filed to go public. You can read our first look here, but it’s going to be big news. Also on the IPO beat, Matterport is going out via a SPAC, I chatted with Metromile CEO Dan Preston about his insurtech public offering this week that also came via a SPAC, and so on.

Oscar Health filed, and it doesn’t look super strong. So its impending valuation is going to test public traders. That’s not a problem that Bumble had when it priced above-range this week and then skyrocketed after it started to trade. Natasha and I (she’s on Equity, as well) have some notes from Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd that we’ll get to you early next week. (Also I chatted about the IPO with the BBC a few times, which was neat, the first of which you can check out here if you’d like.)

Roblox’s impending public debut was also back in the news this week. The company was a bit bigger than it thought last year (cool), but may delay its direct listing to March (not cool).

Near to the IPO beat, Carta started to allow its own shares to trade recently, on the back of news that its revenues have scaled to around $150 million. Not bad Carta, but how about a real IPO instead of staying private? The company’s valuation more than doubled during the secondary transitions.

And then there were so very many cool venture capital rounds that I couldn’t get to this week. This Koa Health round, for example. And whatever this Slync.io news is. (If you want some earlier-stage stuff, check out recent rounds from Treinta, Level, Ramp and Monte Carlo.

And to close, a small callout to Ontic, which provides “protective intelligence software” and said that its revenue grew 177% last year. I appreciate the sharing of the numbers, so wanted to highlight the figure.

Various and Sundry

Wrapping this week, I have a final bit for you to chew on from Mark Mader, the CEO of Smartsheet, a public company — former startup, it’s worth noting — that plays in the no-code, automation and collaboration markets. That’s a rough summary. Anyhoo, I asked Mader about no-code trends in 2021, as I have my eyes on the space. Here’s what he wrote for us:

If you thought the sudden shift to remote work sped up corporate America’s shift to digital, you haven’t seen anything yet. Digital transformation is going to accelerate even more rapidly in 2021. Last year, the workforce was exposed to many different types of technology all at once. For example, a company may have deployed Zoom or DocuSign for the first time. But much of this shift involved taking analog processes like meetings or document signing and approval and bringing them online. Things like this are merely a first step. 2021 is the year the companies will begin to connect large-scale digital events to infrastructure that can make them automated and repeatable. It’s the difference between one person signing a document and hundreds of people signing hundreds of documents, with different rules for each one. And that’s just one example. Another use case could involve linking HR software to project management software for automated, real-time resource allocation that allows a company to get more out of both platforms, as well as its people. The businesses that can automate and simplify complex workflows like these will see dramatically improved efficiency and return on their technology investments, putting them on the path to true transformation and improved profitability.

We shall see!

Alex

 



- Eg tillét meg å håpe at denne økonomitrenden skal utvikle seg til eit flammande sinne

Sat Feb 13 2021 21:00:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- Öberg slår tilbake mot kritikken: – Grunnløst

Sat Feb 13 2021 20:59:00 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)



- AI progress depends on us using less data, not more

Sat Feb 13 2021 19:08:11 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

A small version of the Earth surrounded by colored circles representing data


Compute costs, spurious noise, and privacy problems all mean that we can't keep moving toward bigger and bigger datasets to fuel AI progress.Read More



- Multiplayer fintech, and the muddled world of startup data

Sat Feb 13 2021 19:00:49 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

There’s always a fintech angle, even on Valentine’s Day.

This week, I covered Zeta, a new startup working on joint finances for modern couples. It aims to take away the money chores of a relationship, from splitting the bill at dinner to requesting rent through a payment app every month.

Aditi Shekar, the co-founder, gave me some notes about why the ongoing popularity of Venmo is validation for the company, instead of competition.

Here’s what I learned:

The success of Zeta hinges on the idea that people want to share their finances in an ongoing and meaningful way, and that the world of finance is ready to shift from individualism to collectivism earlier and louder. It sounds daunting, but we already know that social finance is big, as shown by apps like Venmo and Splitwise, and phenomena like the GameStop saga from just a few weeks ago.

Other startups have taken notice too, entering the world of multiplayer fintech, a term that categorizes socially focused and consumer-friendly financial services. Braid, a group-financing platform, is trying to make transactions work for various entities, from shared households to side hustles to creative projects.

Money is emotional and complex, and the opportunity within the multiplayer fintech reflects just that. The next wave of products will be able to straddle the line of comfort to successfully get adoption, and cultural shift to successfully deliver a truly collaborative cash experience.

What should banking look like for modern couples?

(And in case that wasn’t enough Valentine’s Day content for you, here’s one more piece about a new dating app for gamers).

In the rest of this newsletter, we’ll talk about the new career path to CEO, our favorite startups from Techstars Demo Day and the latest SPAC you should probably know about. As always, you can find me on Twitter @nmasc_ or e-mail me at natasha.m@techcrunch.com. Want this in your inbox each week? Sign up here.

Data on startups is dreadful

Data about startups is helpful to understand directional trends and how the flow of capital works and changes over time. But as ventures as an asset class grows and the documentation around raises gets thornier, the data can sometimes be missing a big chunk of what’s actually happening on the scenes.

Here’s what to know per Danny Crichton and Alex Wilhelm: PSA: most aggregate VC trend data is garbage and Are SAFEs obscuring today’s seed volume are two pieces that explain some of the reasons why the numbers might be flawed today. The good news is that the government is also in the dark about funding data; the bad news is that without good tracking, we don’t know how progress is being made.

Etc: Shameless plug for you to tip us on Secure Drop, TechCrunch’s submission system for any news you think is important to share. You can stay anonymous.

Image via Getty Images / Sadeugra

The new CEO

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos announced weeks ago that he was shifting into an executive chairman role and AWS CEO Andy Jassy would take over as chief executive. In this analysis, our enterprise cloud reporter Ron Miller explores the question: is overseeing cloud operations the new path to CEO?

Is overseeing cloud operations the new career path to CEO?

Here’s what to know, per Andrew Bartels, an analyst at Forrester Research:

“In both cases, these hyperscale business units of Microsoft and Amazon were the fastest-growing and best-performing units of the companies. [ … ] In both cases, cloud infrastructure was seen as a platform on top of which and around which other cloud offerings could be developed,” Bartels said. The companies both believe that the leaders of these two growth engines were best suited to lead the company into the future.

Etc: Ember names former Dyson head as consumer CEO as the startup looks beyond the smart mug, and Monzo, the British challenger bank nearing 5 million customers, has recruited a new US CEO.

AWS CEO Andy Jassy and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Image Credits: Amazon / Microsoft

A triple-hitter Demo Day

TechCrunch covered favorites from Techstars’ three Demo Days, which were focused on Chicago, Boston and workforce development. Make sure to dig into the startups yourself to form your own opinions, but if you care what stood out to us, here’s what we ended up with.

TechCrunch’s favorites from Techstars’ Boston, Chicago and workforce accelerators

Here’s what to know: The reason I love Demo Days is that it’s a fast way to understand what the next wave of startups and entrepreneurs are thinking about. In this year’s cohorts, we saw an exclusive sneaker marketplace, flexible life insurance and a part-time childcare platform that helps parents cover random gaps in their childcare schedule.

Etc: Without desks and a demo day, are accelerators worth it?

Image Credits: Paper Boat Creative (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

Public markets fly high

Archer Aviation, the electric aircraft startup targeting the urban air mobility market, is teaming up with United Airlines to become a publicly traded company via, you guessed it, a SPAC.

Archer lands $1B order from United Airlines and a SPAC deal

Here’s what to know per Kirsten Korosec, our transportation editor:

The agreement to go public and the order from United Airlines comes less than a year after Archer Aviation came out of stealth. Archer was co-founded in 2018 by Adam Goldstein and Brett Adcock, who sold their software-as-a-service company Vettery to The Adecco Group for more than $100 million. The company’s primary backer was Lore, who sold his company Jet.com to Walmart in 2016 for $3.3 billion. Lore was Walmart’s e-commerce chief until January.

Etc: Bumble priced and Nigeria’s IROKO plans to go public on the London Stock Exchange.

Use cloud foam to dollar sign

Around TC

Across the week

Seen on TechCrunch

Seen on Extra Crunch

@Equitypod: Does SoftBank have 20 more DoorDashes?

SoftBank earnings always give key insights about how a heavyweight in venture capital is performing (and the bonanza always comes with a healthy share of content and memes). This week on Equity, we couldn’t resist nerding out about it:

Of course, if SoftBank isn’t your jam, there was a whole host of other news we chatted about, from Reddit’s latest raise to DoorDash buying a salad robot. Listen here.

DoorDash acquires salad-making robotics startup, Chowbotics

Until next week,

N

 



- This Week in Apps: Bumble’s IPO, Google’s missing privacy labels, a developer crusades against scams

Sat Feb 13 2021 17:06:33 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.

The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020.

Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on Android devices alone. And in the U.S., app usage surged ahead of the time spent watching live TV. Currently, the average American watches 3.7 hours of live TV per day, but now spends four hours per day on their mobile devices.

Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re also a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus. In 2020, investors poured $73 billion in capital into mobile companies — a figure that’s up 27% year-over-year.

This week, we’re taking a look at the Bumble IPO, app store subscription revenue and talk to a developer on a crusade against the fake ratings plaguing the App Store. We’re also checking in on the missing Google privacy labels…with a spreadsheet of all 100 apps.

This Week in Apps will soon be a newsletter! Sign up here: techcrunch.com/newsletters.

Top Stories

Bumble IPO

Bumble, the dating app positioned as one of Tinder’s biggest rivals, began trading on public markets on Thursday. The company priced its shares at $43, above its earlier target range of $37 to $39. But once live, BMBL began trading up nearly 77% at $76 per share on Nasdaq, closing the day with a market cap of $7.7 billion and the stock at $70.55.

Bumble prices IPO at $43 per share

The app itself was founded in 2014 by early Tinder exec Whitney Wolfe Herd, who now, at 31, is the youngest woman founder to take a U.S. company public and, thanks to the IPO, the world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire, as well, said Fortune.

"I want to thank the remarkable women who paved the way for @Bumble in the public markets."

📍 From Austin, TX, Bumble CEO & Founder @WhitWolfeHerd rings the @Nasdaq Opening Bell in celebration of #BumbleIPO. pic.twitter.com/LN4iJuBJqy

— Nasdaq (@Nasdaq) February 11, 2021

Wolfe Herd successfully leveraged her knowledge of the online dating market, then combined that with an understanding of how to position a dating app to make it more appealing to women.

On Bumble, women message first, for example, and the company often touts features and updates designed to protect women from bad actors. A lot of what Bumble does is just marketing and spin overlaid on the Tinder model. Like other dating apps, Bumble uses a similar format to connect potential matches: a swipeable “people catalog,” where users look at photos, primarily, to determine interest. Bumble, like others, also makes money by charging for extra features that give users a better shot or more efficient experience.

But all this works because users believe Bumble to be different. They believe Bumble is also capable of delivering higher-quality matches than Tinder, which has increasingly re-embraced its persona as a hook-up app.

The IPO’s success also sends a signal that investors are expecting in-person dating to rebound post-pandemic, and getting in early on the next big mass market dating app is an easy win.

Developer crusades against scammy subscription apps

Developer Kosta Eleftheriou, a Fleskly co-founder, has been on a crusade against the scammy and spammy apps overrunning the App Store, as well as Apple’s failure to do much about it.

Earlier this month, Kosta complained that copycat apps were undermining his current business, as the developer of an Apple Watch keyboard app, FlickType. Shady clones boosted by fake ratings and reviews promised the same features as his legit app, but then locked their customers into exorbitant subscriptions, earning the scammers hundreds of thousands per month.

Apple urged to root out rating scams as developer highlights ugly cost of enforcement failure

In his eyes, the problem wasn’t just that clones existed, but that Apple’s lack of attention to fake reviews made those apps appear to be the better choice.

What Apple doesn’t want you to know about the App Store👇

“The apps you love, from a place you can trust” they tell you. But the reality is far from it.

A 4.5-star app? Might as well be a multi-million dollar scam.

How, you ask?

1/🧵

— Kosta Eleftheriou (@keleftheriou) February 12, 2021

Although Apple finally removed most of his fraudulent competitors after his rants gained press attention, he’s frustrated that the system was so broken in the first place.

This week, Kosta returned with another Twitter thread detailing the multimillion-dollar scams that pretend to be the best Roku remote control app. One app, “Roku Remote Control – Roki,” for example, had a 4.5 stars across 15K+ ratings. The app was a free download, but immediately tries to lock users into a $4.99/week subscription or a lifetime payment of $19.99. However, the app offers a “buggy, ad-infested, poorly designed” experience, Kosta says.

He then used AppFigures to see only those reviews of the Roki app that also had text. When displayed like this, it was revealed that “Roki” was really just a 1.7-star app, based on consumers who took the time to write a review.

What’s worse, Kosta has also argued, that even when Apple reacts by removing a bad actor’s app, it will sometimes allow the developer to continue to run other, even more profitable scams.

Kosta says he decided to spearhead a campaign about App Store scams to “get the word out about how all these scams manage to sustain themselves through a singular common flaw in the App Store — one that has been broken for years.”

He also notes that although Apple responded to him, he believes the company is hoping for the story to blow over.

Dear Director at Apple who emailed me:

I already know that many of the apps I’ve reported have been removed.

Please acknowledge there’s a fake ratings problem plaguing the App Store, so we can begin an honest conversation.

Perhaps someone more senior will *finally* say it?

🤨 https://t.co/wZ0ziQhtrW

— Kosta Eleftheriou (@keleftheriou) February 11, 2021

“The way Apple tried to communicate with me also didn’t help ease my concern — they either don’t get it, or are actively trying to let the story fizzle out through some token gestures. But what they need to do first and foremost, is acknowledge the issue and protect their customers,” Kosta told TechCrunch.

One potential argument here is that because Apple financially benefits from successful subscription app scams, it’s not motivated to prioritize work that focuses on cleaning up the App Store or fake ratings and reviews. But Kosta believes Apple isn’t being intentionally malicious in an effort to grow the subscription business, it’s just that fake App Store reviews have become “a can that’s been perpetually kicked down the road.” Plus, since Apple touts the App Store as a place users can trust, it’s hard for them to admit fault on this front, he says.

Since the crusade began, Kosta has heard from others developers who have sent him examples “dozens and dozens of scams.”

“I will just keep exposing them until Apple acknowledges the problem,” he says.

Top subscription apps grew 34% to $13B in 2020

Apps saw record downloads and consumer spending in 2020, globally reaching somewhere around $111 billion to $112 billion, according to various estimates. But a growing part of that spend was subscription payments, a report from Sensor Tower indicates. Last year, global subscription app revenue from the top 100 subscription apps (excluding games), climbed 34% year-over-year to $13 billion, up from $9.7 billion in 2019.

The App Store, not surprisingly, accounted for a sizable chunk of this subscription revenue, given it has historically outpaced the Play Store on consumer spending. In 2020, the top 100 subscription apps worldwide generated $10.3 billion on the App Store, up 32% over 2019, compared with $2.7 billion on Google Play, which grew 42% from $1.9 billion in 2019. (Read more here.)

Top 100 subscription apps grew 34% to $13B in 2020, share of total spend remained the same

Google-Apple Privacy Label war drags on

Google said it would update its iOS apps with privacy labels weeks ago. While it did roll out some, it has yet to update top apps with Apple’s new labels, including key apps like the Google search app, Google Pay, Google Assistant, Google One, Google Meet, Google Photos, Google Calendar, Google Maps, Google News, Google Drive, Gmail and others. (Keep track of this with me here. Want to help? Email me.)

Google to add App Store privacy labels to its iOS apps as soon as this week

Overall, the majority of Google’s apps don’t have labels. While Google probably needed some time (and a lot of lawyers) to look this over, it’s now super late to put its labels out there. At this point, its iOS apps are out of date — which Google accidentally alerted users to earlier this week. This is awful optics for a company users already don’t trust, and a win for Apple as a result. (Which, of course, means we need to know for sure that Apple isn’t delaying Google’s submissions here…)

Still, Google had time to get this done. Its December code freeze is long over, and everyone else, for the most part, has gotten on board with the new labels. Why can’t Google?

Google's iOS apps release cycle before & after Apple asks to disclose privacy labels.

Thie pattern is probably just a coincidence. We all know "transparency forms the bedrock of [their] commitment to users"… pic.twitter.com/UgJjAhWfkm

— Thomasbcn (@Thomasbcn) February 2, 2021

Weekly News

Platforms: Apple

Apple may soon allow users to set a different default music service. The company already opened up the ability to choose a different default browser and email app, but now a new feature in the iOS 14.5 beta indicates it may allow users to set another service, like Spotify, as the default option when asking Siri to play tunes. This, however, could be an integration with HomePod and Siri voice control support in mind, rather than something as universal as switching from Mail app to Gmail.

Apple Maps to gain Waze-like features for reporting accidents, hazards and speed traps. Another new feature in the iOS 14.5 beta will allow drivers to report road issues and incidents by using Siri on their iPhone or through Apple’s CarPlay. For example, during navigation, they’ll be able to tell Siri things like “there’s a crash up head,” “there’s something on the road,” or “there’s a speed trap here.”

Apple Maps to gain Waze-like features for reporting accidents, hazards and speed traps

Apple tests a new advertising slot on the App Store. Users of Apple’s new iOS 14.5 beta have reported seeing a new sponsored ad slot that appears on the Search tab of the App Store, under the “Suggested” heading (the screen that shows before you do a search). The ad slot is also labeled “Ad” and is a slightly color to differentiate it from the search results. It’s unclear at this time if Apple is planning to launch the ad slot or is just testing it.

The App Store announces price changes for Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Germany and the Republic of Korea.

Apple alerts developers to Push Notification service server certificate update, taking place on March 29, 2021.

Platforms: Google

Image Credits: XDA Developers

Alleged Android 12 screenshots snagged from an early draft document by XDA Developers show Google could be borrowing some ideas from Apple’s iOS for its next update. One feature may put colored dots in the status bar to indicate when the camera or microphone are being accessing, for example. Users may also be able to toggle off their camera, microphone or location access entirely. Google may also add a “conversations” widget to show recent messages, calls and activity statuses, among other things.

Google bans data broker Predicio that was selling user data collected from a Muslim prayer app to Venntel, a government contractor that sells location data from smartphones to ICE, CBP and the FBI, following a Motherboard investigation. Google alerted developers they had a week to remove the SDK from their apps or they’d be removed from Google Play.

Google updated its instructor-led curriculum for Android Development with Kotlin, a major update for the course materials that were first released in 2018. The new materials are designed for either in-person or virtual learning, where educators combine lectures and codelabs.

Google briefly notified users that their Google iOS apps were “out of date”an embarrassing mistake that was later corrected server-side. The bug arrived at a time when Google has yet to have updated its privacy labels for many of its largest apps, including Google, Gmail, Assistant, Maps, Photos and others.

Augmented Reality

Apple released a new iOS app, For All Mankind: Time Capsule, to promote its Apple TV+ series, “For All Mankind.” The app was built using Apple’s ARKit framework, offering a new narrative experience told in AR format featuring the show’s star. In the app, users join Danny as he examines keepsakes that connect to stories about impacting events in the lives of his parents, Gordo and Tracy Stevens, in the alternative world of the TV show.

E-commerce

✨ TikTok is expanding its e-commerce efforts. The company told marketers it’s planning a push into livestreamed e-commerce, and will also allow creators to share affiliate links to products, giving them a way to earn commissions from their videos. The company also recently announced a partnership with global ad agency WPP that will give WPP agencies and clients early access to TikTok ad products. It will also connect top creators with WPP for brand deals.

The Single Day Shopping festival drove high mobile usage. Consumers spent 2.3 billion hours in Android shopping apps during week of November 8-15, 2020, reports App Annie.

Social

CULVER CITY, CA - OCTOBER 13: General view of the TikTok headquarters on October 13, 2020 in Culver City, California. (Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Image Credits: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

✨ TikTok’s sale of its U.S. operations to Oracle and Walmart is shelved. The Biden administration undertook a review of Trump’s efforts to address security risks from Chinese tech firms, including the forced sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations. The Trump administration claimed TikTok was a national security threat, and ordered TikTok owner ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations if it wanted to continue to operate in the country. Several large tech companies stepped up to the plate to take on the potential windfall. But Biden’s review of the agency action puts Trump’s plan on an indefinite pause. As a result, the U.S. government will delay its appeal of of federal district court judge’s December 2020 injunction against the TikTok ban. Discussions between U.S. national security officials and ByteDance are continuing, however.

TikTok’s forced sale to Oracle is put on hold

✨ Facebook is said to be building its own Clubhouse rival. Mark Zuckerberg made a brief appearance on Clubhouse earlier this month, which now seems more like a reconnaissance mission, if The NYT’s report is true. Facebook will have to tread lightly, given its still under regulatory scrutiny for anticompetitive practices, which included cloning and acquiring its competition.

✨ Microsoft reportedly approached Pinterest about an acquisition of the $51 billion social media platform, but those talks are no longer active.

TikTok partnered with recipe app Whisk to add a way for users to save recipes featured in TikTok videos. The feature is currently in pilot testing with select creators.

Mark Cuban is co-founding a new podcast app, Fireside. The Shark Tank star and investor has teamed up with Falon Fatemi, who sold customer intelligence startup Node to SugarCRM last year. Fireside is basically Clubhouse, but adds the ability to export live conversations as podcasts.

SugarCRM acquires Node to gain predictive customer intelligence

TikTok expands its Universal Music Group deal just days after UMG pulled its song catalog from Triller, saying the app was withholding artist payments.

Indian firm ShareChat will integrate Snapchat’s Camera Kit technology into its Moj app to enable AR features. The move will give Snap a foothold in a key emerging market.

Snap partners with ShareChat’s Moj to roll out Camera Kit

Instagram said it will impose stricter penalties against those who send abusive messages, including account bans, and develop new controls to reduce the abuse people see in their DMs. The announcement followed a recent bout of racist abuse targeted at footballers in the U.K. A joint statement from Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City condemned the abuse, saying “there is no room for racism, hate or any form of discrimination in our beautiful game.”

Instagram tells creators that it won’t promote their recycled TikToks. The company announced via its @creators account a set of best practices for Reels, noting that those featuring a watermark or logo (which TikTok smartly attaches to its content), won’t be recommended frequently on Instagram’s platform. Of course, TikTok creators are already circulating videos with tips about how to cut out the logo from TikTok videos by first exporting the video as a Live Photo, then going to their iOS Photos app, clicking on the Live Photo and choosing “Save as Video.” Problem solved.

Photos

Image Credits: Google

Google Photos for Android adds previously Pixel-only features — but only if users subscribe to Google One. The paywalled features include machine learning-powered editing tools like Portrait Blur, Portrait Light and Color Pop. There’s also a new video editor on iOS with an Android update planned. The editor now lets you crop, change perspective, add filters, apply granular edits (including brightness, contrast, saturation and warmth) and more.

Adobe adds collaboration and asynchronous editing to Photoshop, Illustrator and Fresco. The update will be supported across platforms, including desktop, iPad and iPhone.

Streaming and Entertainment

Waze adds Audible to its list of in-app audio players. The integration allows you to easily play your audiobooks while driving. Waze already supported in-app music integrations, like YouTube Music and Spotify, thanks to developer integrations with the Waze Audio Kit.

HBO Max is going international. The app will be expanded to 39 Latin American and Caribbean territories in June, replacing the existing HBO GO app.

Picture-in-picture mode returned to YouTube on iOS with the launch of the iOS 14.5 beta.

Messaging

Facebook Messenger added a new feature that makes it easier to block and mass-delete Message Requests from people you don’t know. It also said it’s working on new ways to report abuse and providing better feedback on the status of those reports.

The Biden administration pauses the Trump ban on WeChat. The administration asked a federal appeals court to place a hold on proceedings over the WeChat a day after it asked for a similar delay over the TikTok case, saying it needed time to review the previous administration’s efforts, which are now in the appeals stage.

Health & Fitness

NHS Covid-tracing app has prevented 600,000 infections in England and Wales, researchers estimated in one of the first studies of smartphone-based tracing. The app used the tracing system built by Apple and Google.

Fintech

The Robinhood backlash hasn’t stopped the downloads. Many users downrated the app after it halted meme stock trading earlier this month — a move that’s now under Congressional investigation and has prompted multiple lawsuits. But the app continues to receive downloads. The day after it halted trades was its second-largest by downloads ever, and downloads remained high in the days that followed. In January 2021, the app was installed 3.7 million times in the U.S., or 4x the installs of January 2020.

Government & Policy

Image credits: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

The Chinese government blocked Clubhouse, which had been rapidly gaining attention in the country. The app itself had only briefly been made available in Apple’s China App Store last fall, but those had it installed could access its audio chat rooms without a VPN. Prior to the ban, a group discussing the 1989 pro-democracy Tiananmen protest reached 5,000 participants — the max number of participants Clubhouse supports.

Clubhouse is now blocked in China after a brief uncensored period

A new North Dakota Senate bill proposes to ban app stores like Apple and Google from requiring developers to exclusively use their store and payment mechanisms to distribute apps, and would prevent them from retaliating, at the risk of fines. Apple’s Chief Privacy Engineer Erik Neuenschwander said the bill “threatens to destroy the iPhone as you know it,” and that Apple succeeds because it “works hard to keep the bad apps out of the App Store.”

The Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) announced that Meghan DiMuzio has now joined as its first executive director. The advocacy group fighting against app store anticompetitive behavior is made up of over 50 members, including Spotify, Tile, Basecamp, Epic Games and others.

Security & Privacy

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce has asked Apple to improve the credibility of App Store privacy labels, so consumers aren’t harmed. The request was made after an investigation by The Washington Post revealed that many labels were false, leading to questions as to whether the labels could be trusted at all.

Apple will begin to proxy Google’s “Safe Browsing” service used by Safari through its own servers starting with iOS 14.5. Safari on iPhone and iPad includes a “Fraudulent Website Warning” feature that warns users if they’re visiting a possible phishing site. The feature leverages Google’s “Safe Browsing” database and blocklist. Before, Google may have collected user’s IP address during its interaction with Safari, when the browser would check the website URL against Google’s list. Now, Apple will proxy the feature through Apple’s own servers to limit the risk of information leaks. The change was reported by The 8-bit, MacRumors and others, after a Reddit sighting, and confirmed by Apple’s head of Engineering for WebKit.

This article is a bit confused on the details of how Safe Browsing works, but in the new iOS beta, Safari does indeed proxy the service via Apple servers to limit the risk of information leak.https://t.co/TlDZNMO8do

— othermaciej (@othermaciej) February 11, 2021

A generically named app “Barcode Scanner” on the Google Play Store had been operating as a legit app for years before turning into malware. Users of the app, which had over 10 million installs, began to experience ads that would open their browser out of nowhere. The malware was traced to the app and Google removed it from the Play Store. Unfortunately, users review-bombed a different, innocent app as a result, leaving it 1-star reviews and accusing it of being malware.

Google Chrome’s iOS app is testing a feature that would lock your Incognito tabs with either Touch ID or Face ID to add more security to the browser app.

Google Fi VPN for Android exits beta and expands to iPhone. The VPN app, designed for Google Fi users, is meant to encrypt connections when on public Wi-Fi networks or when using sites that don’t encrypt data. Users, however, question the privacy offered by VPN from Google.

Twitter said the iOS 14 privacy update will have a “modest impact” on its revenue. The companies joins others, including Facebook and Snap, in saying that Apple is impacting their business’s monetization.

Funding and M&A

💰 Quilt, a “Clubhouse” focused self-care, raised $3.5 million seed round led by Mayfield Fund. The app has a similar format to audio social network, Clubhouse, but rooms are dedicated less to hustle culture and more to wellness, personal development, spirituality, meditation, astrology and more.

Quilt, an audio social network focused on self care, raises $3.5 million in seed

🤝  Match Group, owner of dating apps like Match and Tinder, will buy Korean social media company Hyperconnect for $1.73 billion. The company runs two apps, Azar and Hakuna Live, both which focus on video, including video chats and live broadcasts.

🤝 Electronic Arts buys Glu Mobile, maker of the “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” mobile game in a $2.4 billion deal. The all-cash deal will also bring other games, like “Diner Dash” and “MLB Tap Sports Baseball” to EA, which said it made the acquisition because mobile is the “fastest-growing platform on the planet.”

💰 French startup Powder raised $12 million for its social app for sharing clips from your favorite games, and follow others with the same interests. The app can capture video content from both desktop and mobile games.

💰 Reddit’s valuation doubled to $6 billion after raising $250 million in a late-stage funding round led by Vy Capital, following the r/WallStreetBets and GameStop frenzy. The company was previously valued at $3 billion, and is also backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Reddit raises $250 million in Series E funding

💰 SplashLearn raised $18 million for its game-based edtech platform. The startup offers math and reading courses for Pre-K through 5th grade, and over 4,000 games and interactive activities.

💰 Goody raised $4 million for its mobile app that lets you send gifts to friends, family and other loved ones over a text message. The other user can then personalize the gift and share their address, if you don’t have that information.

💰 VerSe Innovation, the Bangalore-based parent firm of news and entertainment app Dailyhunt and short video app Josh, a TikTok rival, raised over $100 million in Series H round led by Qatar Investment Authority and Glade Brook Capital Partners. The round turns the company into a unicorn.

💰 Tickr, an app that lets U.K. consumers make financial investments based on their impact to society and the environment, raised $3.4 million in a round led by Ada Ventures, a VC firm focused on impact startups.

Tickr, which allows retail investors to back impact companies, secures $3.4M from Ada Ventures

📈 Huuuge Inc., a developer of free-to-play mobile casino games, raised $445 million in its IPO in Warsaw, becoming Poland’s largest-ever gaming industry listing.

💰 Uptime, an educational app that offers 5-minute bits of insight from top books and courses, raised a $16 million “seed” round led by Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy; entrepreneur and chairman of N Brown, David Alliance; and members of private equity firm Thomas H Lee.

💰 Modern Health, a mental health services provider for businesses to offer to their employees, raised $74 million, valuing its business at $1.17 billion. The Modern Health mobile app assesses each employee’s need and then provide care options.

💰 Scalarr raised $7.5 million to fight mobile ad fraud. The company offers products to detect ad fraud before an advertiser bids and other tools used by ad exchanges, demand-side platforms, and supply-side platforms.

Scalarr raises $7.5M to fight mobile ad fraud

💰 Dublin-based food ordering app Flipdish, a Deliveroo rival, raised €40 million from global investment firm Tiger Global Management. The app offers a lower commission than other delivery rivals and is even testing drone delivery with startup Manna Aero.

💰 Jackpot, an NYC-based lottery ticket app, raised $50 million Series C. The app allows users to play the lottery games in nine different states, including Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas and Washington, D.C.

Downloads

Insight’s iOS web browser supports “extensions”

Image Credits: Insight

A new startup called Insight is bringing web browser extensions to the iPhone, with the goal of delivering a better web browsing experience by blocking ads and trackers, flagging fake reviews on Amazon, offering SEO-free search experiences or even calling out media bias and misinformation, among other things. These features are made available by way of the browser’s “extensions,” which work by way of a “sub-tab” workflow where you navigate using swiping gestures. For example, when online shopping, you could view the product you’re interested in, then swipe over to see the available coupons, the trusted product reviews or to comparison shop across other sites.

The app is a free download on iOS.

App Annie Pulse

Image Credits: App Annie

App Annie’s new app Pulse is aimed not at the more advanced analyst or marketer immersed in data, but rather at the executive who wants a “more elevated, top-down view” of the app ecosystem, TechCrunch reported. The app offers easy access to the app stores’ top charts, plus tools for tracking apps, and a news feed highlighting recent trends. Another feature, the App Annie Performance score, which aims to distill user acquisition, engagement, monetization and sentiment into a single benchmark.

The app is currently iOS-only.

With its new Pulse app, App Annie offers a more digestible view of its data



- Michael Hurlston: How Synaptics pivoted from mobile/PC sensors to the internet of things

Sat Feb 13 2021 16:45:56 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

Synaptics Katana chip takes the company into AI at the edge.


Michael Hurlston, CEO of Synaptics, has pivoted the maker of chips into the internet of things market, moving away from smartphones and PCs.Read More



- 9 investors discuss hurdles, opportunities and the impact of cloud vendors in enterprise data lakes

Sat Feb 13 2021 15:24:35 GMT+0700 (Western Indonesia Time)

About a decade ago, I remember having a conversation with a friend about big data. At the time, we both agreed that it was the purview of large companies like Facebook, Yahoo and Google, and not something most companies would have to worry about.

As it turned out, we were both wrong. Within a short time, everyone would be dealing with big data. In fact, it turns out that huge amounts of data are the fuel of machine learning applications, something my friend and I didn’t foresee.

Frameworks were already emerging like Hadoop and Spark and concepts like the data warehouses were evolving. This was fine when it involved structured data like credit card info, but data warehouses weren’t designed for unstructured data you needed to build machine learning algorithms, and the concept of the data lake developed as a way to take unprocessed data and store until needed. It wasn’t sitting neatly in shelves in warehouses all labeled and organized, it was more amorphous and raw.

Over time, this idea caught the attention of the cloud vendors like Amazon, Microsoft and Google. What’s more, it caught the attention of investors as companies like Snowflake and Databricks built substantial companies on the data lake concept.

Even as that was happening startup founders began to identify other adjacent problems to attack like moving data into the data lake, cleaning it, processing it and funneling to applications and algorithms that could actually make use of that data. As this was happening, data science advanced outside of academia and became more mainstream inside businesses.

At that point there was a whole new modern ecosystem and when something like that happens, ideas develop, companies are built and investors come. We spoke to nine investors about the data lake idea and why they are so intrigued by it, the role of the cloud companies in this space, how an investor finds new companies in a maturing market and where the opportunities and challenges are in this lucrative area.

To learn about all of this, we queried the following investors:


Where are the opportunities for startups in the data lakes space with players like Snowflake and the cloud infrastructure vendors so firmly established?

Caryn Marooney: The data market is very large, driven by the opportunity to unlock value through digital transformation. Both the data lake and data warehouse architectures will be important over the long term because they solve different needs.

For established companies (think big banks, large brands) with significant existing data infrastructure, moving all their data to a data warehouse can be expensive and time consuming. For these companies, the data lake can be a good solution because it enables optionality and federated queries across data sources.

Dharmesh Thakker: Databricks (which Battery has invested in) and Snowflake have certainly become household names in the data lake and warehouse markets, respectively. But technical requirements and business needs are constantly shifting in these markets — and it’s important for both companies to continue to invest aggressively to maintain a competitive edge. They will have to keep innovating to continue to succeed.

Regardless of how this plays out, we feel excited about the ecosystem that’s emerging around these players (and others) given the massive data sprawl that’s occurring across cloud and on-premise workloads, and around a variety of data-storage vendors. We think there is a significant opportunity for vendors to continue to emerge as “unification layers” between data sources and different types of end users (including data scientists, data engineers, business analysts and others) in the form of integration middleware (cloud ELT vendors); real-time streaming and analytics; data governance and management; data security; and data monitoring. These markets shouldn’t be underestimated.

Casey Aylward: There are a handful of big opportunities in the data lake space even with many established cloud infrastructure players in the space: